HUNTINGTON -- If police suspicions turn out to be true, more deaths have been linked to heroin this year in Cabell County than in the last several years combined.
Law officers believe heroin usage may have been involved in nine deaths in Cabell County in 2007, while only four were reported from 2001 to 2006, according to numbers provided by the state Health Statistics Center. Seven of the victims have died within the past two months.
Toxicology reports have not been released in most of the deaths this year, but authorities have linked heroin to each based upon interviews and evidence collected in their investigations.
The swift comeback of heroin, an opiate that can be injected or inhaled, has many looking for answers. Huntington Police Capt. Steve Hall said he is afraid to speculate on how many more deaths could occur if officers "can't shut down the faucet" of heroin.
The deaths also come at a time when Huntington is already battling a powerful crack cocaine trade, but some believe heroin's momentum may be fueled by a less-talked-about habit -- addiction to prescription medications.
In particular, crackdowns on abuse of OxyContin and other painkillers have driven up the cost of those pills on the black market, and those addicted may have switched to the less expensive and more readily available heroin.
The consequences of drug abuse go beyond the injury to the user. Just last week the state's Prevention Resource Center reported drug and alcohol problems cost the state $470 million each year through arrests, incarceration, hospitalization and other factors.
It also destroys families, and still shakes the emotions of Cindy Mays, whose husband Teddy Lee Mays was the second of the nine reported deaths this year. A toxicology report released last week confirmed that heroin and two prescription medications caused his death.
She said her husband was a past owner and operator of a local tire store. She said pain pills and drugs wrecked it all.
"It came to the point where he lost interest in everything," she said.
Mark Young read about many of the deaths as his stepson battled his own heroin addiction. But complete recovery never came for Christopher Dishman. His mother found the 25-year-old dead in his bedroom Nov. 10. He was the year's ninth death.
"Everyone should realize that no matter where you live or who you are, there is somebody with drugs right around the corner," Young said. "You just need to hold your children close."
The numbers
In Cabell County, no deaths involving heroin were reported from 2001 to 2004. Two occurred in 2005 and two more in 2006, according to the state Health Statistics Center.
A total of 57 deaths were reported statewide from 2001 to 2006, with a majority occurring between 2004 and 2006.
Other numbers warn the county's heroin problem is more widespread than the deaths indicate:
- Cabell County EMS Director Gordon Merry said his crews responded to 70 overdoses between July 1 and Oct. 13. He has a strong suspicion of heroin use in at least 10 of those cases, and five of those incidents happened since Sept. 16. Merry bases his suspicion on specific treatment methods used by his paramedics. Merry's office does not have any comparable data from previous years.
- Cabell Huntington Hospital said its emergency room treated 120 drug overdoses in the past six months, spokeswoman Kathy Cosco said. There was no comparable data and no word on how many of the cases involved heroin.
- Huntington Treatment Center uses methadone to treat drug addicts, and each client is required to report his or her drug of choice. In 2006, 3 percent of its clients reported heroin as their drug of choice. The number has increased to 8.5 percent in 2007, as of Tuesday.
The methadone clinic's quarterly numbers also indicate an increase. From July 1 to Sept. 30, 7.5 percent listed heroin as their drug of choice. The number has risen to 13.5 percent through the first month and a half of this quarter.
Nancy Price, director of the Huntington Treatment Center, said her clinic's numbers also give credence to the theory that pill addicts are switching to heroin. Those numbers state that usage of oxycodone has dropped consistently this year from 77 percent in the second quarter, 75 percent in the third quarter and 68 percent so far in the fourth quarter.
Price and Cabell County Chief Sheriff's Deputy Jim Scheidler said they worry that an increased law enforcement focus on crack and prescription drugs may be leading people to try heroin. Scheidler said that causes him great concern because it could make heroin more available to the area's youth.
Price believes a communitywide overdose prevention and response team should be formed to share information and take other steps. It would include treatment professionals, EMS officials, law enforcement officers and emergency room personnel.
Addiction doesn't discriminate
Often, a heroin user doesn't fit any stereotypes about drug users.
Adam Tyler Johnson was a disc jockey.
Patrick L. Byars was a pizza delivery man.
Daniel Matthew Wagoner, 34, was a contractor. He trick-or-treated with his children and attended a youth football game days prior to his death.
Dishman worked as an X-ray technician. His family, like others, said their loved one didn't bear the resemblance of a drug user. But Young said his stepson realized he had a problem and checked himself into a recovery program in Iowa.
Young said everything appeared to be working. He was progressing and was ready to start a new job in Louisville, Ky. He had already leased a residence and he was scheduled to leave Saturday, but he died a week earlier.
Young said he didn't know the full extent of Dishman's drug use, but he knew he abused OxyContin and heroin. He started abusing drugs in his late teens and early 20s.
"We've had all the normal record with a child who abused drugs: the fights, the banishments and everything that every parent has ever gone through," he said. "We were really happy when he made this change in his outlook, but he was just not able to rid himself of the habit."
Price and Kim Miller, manager of women addiction services for Prestera, said that it is normal for a drug offender to lead a functioning life. Miller said there is an entire subculture of functioning addicts. She said her program includes a couple of Marshall University students who are seeking outpatient treatment as they earn their degrees.
Price said her typical patient is a 32-year-old, white male. He is typically employed.
"Maintaining active employment is critical. A lack of income affects the ability to buy the drug," Price said. "He could be your neighbor who collects the mail when you go on vacation, your barber, the guy who coaches your son's baseball team. Across the board, addiction does not discriminate. It aggressively crosses all race, ethnic, age and socio-economic lines."
Authorities and treatment professionals say the spiral into heroin could even start with an injury. A painkiller is prescribed, and the patient becomes addicted. That leads to black market purchase of prescription drugs and eventually heroin as a less expensive substitute.
Merry said drug addiction can be such a secretive society that victims sometimes refuse medical attention after being revived by his paramedics. Police have said family members and friends will refuse to answer questions after their loved one has died.
Miller and Price said fear produces both reactions. Miller said some worry about giving information because it could result in a supplier's arrest. If that person gets arrested, the heroin supply vanishes and withdrawal will cause the addict to get sick.
Miller said the respiratory arrest process connected to a heroin overdose is gradual. She said some people will actually wait to call 911.
Deloris Jones believes that happened in the death of her son, William Payton Jones. He died Oct. 5, at his apartment.
"It's not that they want that person to die," she said. "Addiction is a very selfish disease, but it forces you to be. Especially the opiate addiction because it makes you so sick."
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